The Rest of our Weekend

 First, a bit of business. Blogger was at it again, as I didn't see any new posts in my notifications for 4 days. I poked around a bit, but I'm sure I missed some of your blogs. It looks like maybe notifications are working again, so I should be visiting more regularly. I hope there are no more problems for a while. But Blogger is free, and sometimes you get what you pay for. Now on with the post.

Last weekend, we went to West Virginia for a family reunion. Here are a few of the highlights.

When I was growing up, we gathered at my grandparents' farm every summer to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. There were 23 of us cousins, and we had a great time running around the hills, but mostly playing in the creek and catching crawdads. Everyone would bring food, and we would usually make ice cream. I had so much fun. After my grandparents both died, we discontinued the gatherings for a few years. But the farm was still in the family, so we started them again. 

A young Theo playing in the creek at my grandparents' farm.

It was very special to me that I could take my kids to play in the creek and experience the big gatherings just like I did. We have continued the reunions over the years, but the crowd has gotten smaller and smaller. However, I'm still very happy to connect with any of my cousins who can make it, and this year was no exception. 

Although not the primary focus of the picture, you can see two things we have at our gathering every year. One is the crock with flowers that has the family name on it (blotted out), and the other is the tablecloth where attendees sign their names and dates.

Next to my family farm is a big farm where my father and his brothers all worked. I had heard for years that a Revolutionary War soldier was buried there. This year, I finally visited and found the markers of Bailey Rice and his wife, both born in the mid-1700s. 

Bailey survived the war and lived to be almost 100 years old. Almost triple the life expectancy at that time.

The other event we hoped to see last weekend was the Sternwheel Festival in Marietta, Ohio. Marietta, Ohio is directly across the Ohio River from Williamstown, WV, where we stayed. The first night we sat on the WV side and listened to the music and watched the barges and boats on the river. Saturday night was a big night of fireworks to celebrate the 50th year of the festival. After trying several places, we returned to my cousins' because of the crowds. And that worked out great. We sat on their porch out of the rain and saw a great show in the sky. We used a live stream for the lower-down displays.  So we didn't actually make it to the festival, but we got to participate in a way, away from the crowds. Just the way I like to do things.

There was a large stage at the waterfront with live music all day.

Sternwheelers lined the banks. There was a race Sunday afternoon that we didn't stay for.

We left Sunday morning planning to get home by 4 o'clock, in time to pick up our entries at the local fair. We entered them Thursday night before we left, and they had to be picked up 4-6 pm on Sunday. Luckily, we made it in time.

Along the way, we stopped at Cooper's Rock State Forest in WV. Fog obscured the otherwise scenic views.

 

Ward got Grand Champion with his Roycroft table.

And I got a blue ribbon for my embroidery sampler.

After the fair, we could finally go home. We were hot and tired, but happy with our weekend of visiting.

Until next time...

On the Road Again

 

Ward and I went back to West Virginia this past weekend for a family reunion. We have made this trip across the mountains many times to visit my parents and other relatives. For most of those trips, the destination was more important than the journey, so we made few, if any, stops other than gas and bathrooms. 

Now that we have more flexibility in our schedule, we try to fit in at least one activity along the way. Last time, it was a visit to the river trail in Morgantown, WV. This time, our stop was in Mt. Davis, PA, the highest point in Pennsylvania at 3213'.  Blog friend Kris recently visited there on her vacation, and when I found out it was only about 30 minutes off our route, I thought it would make a good stop since it was around the halfway point. 

We left at around 8 am, with a planned arrival at around 5 pm. After a stop at the Sidling Hill Welcome Center, we made it to Mt. Davis by mid-morning. During the first couple of hours of the trip, we drove in and out of rain, but the rain miraculously cleared by the time we reached the park. Here are a few pictures from our stop.

As we drove into PA, we soon discovered we were in Amish country.

Mt. Davis has a 50-foot observation tower built in 1931. Ward climbed to the top, but I did not follow him because I have a healthy fear of heights. The sky was clearing, and he said the views were good.

Just behind the tower is the marker for the highest point. It is on the leaning rock on the right side of the picture.

Just down the road was an overlook that you didn't have to climb to see. I always take note of Eagle Scout projects because Wally and Theo each did one.

The trees were cleared in front of the viewing platform so you could actually see out over them. A nice touch that you rarely find.

After our lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and apples, we were on our way again. The park didn't have bathroom facilities, so we made another stop when we were back in Maryland at Grantsville. Here we discovered we were in Bigfoot Country.

Not only was there a Bigfoot statue outside, inside the store there was a 6' Chewbacca statue.

Back on the road, we made it another hour or so before we decided to take another detour. Ward had never driven around the town of Clarksburg, so we went exploring. But soon we were settled in for the last 1 1/2 hours of our trip. 

But wait, we stopped again when we needed to find a bathroom. (You know, sometimes it's hard to coordinate these bathroom stops. 😉) We exited where we thought there might be a Subway, but as happens in rural areas, the attractions are far from the exit. In fact, we never found any public bathrooms. However, we did find part of the North Bend Rail Trail to stretch our legs on. 

I was fascinated by the mass of red bugs we saw on the rail trail. I knew I had seen them before, but couldn't remember what they were. A little Googling told me that they were box elder nymphs.

We made one last stop in Parkersburg before we continued to our final destination of Williamstown, about 20 minutes away. We were checking on some work that was being done on my grandmother's headstone. And guess what, we arrived at my cousin's house precisely at 5 pm, just like we planned.

Ward and I occasionally talk about driving across the country, but I told him it would take us a year at the rate we go. But you know what, it's nice to be at the stage of our life when we have time to meander if that's what we're in the mood for.

More about other days on our little excursion next time.

Until next time...

Out and About

 We've been out and about for the last several days. Let's see if I can remember where we were.

It started Saturday afternoon, when we went to an art show that an acquaintance of mine was having. She is quite the accomplished artist, but I had never seen any of her work. Unfortunately, she is losing her sight and cannot see well enough to paint anymore, but she is making collages, which we saw. They were colorful abstracts, and I liked her balance of colors and textures. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures. And unfortunately, her works were out of our price range.

The venue for the show was an interesting place and new to us. The complex had a history of over 200 years and was a cloistered monastery and later a school for many years. Eventually, Marriott took it over and transformed it into a luxury hotel. 

What used to be the front of the church is now a bar for the hotel.
I'm not sure how I feel about that.

That evening, went to a local line dance event. It was outside and a lot of fun. This venue is one of my favorites. It doesn't hurt that it is fairly close to our house. I was too busy having fun to take any pictures. 

The next day, Wally called and asked if we wanted to visit Monocacy Battlefield with him. The Battle of Monocacy was an important engagement during the Civil War. The Confederates won, but the Union soldiers were able to stop the Confederate advance toward the nation's capital in Washington, D.C. Besides the history here, there are several nice trails. We went on a new one for us, the Junction Trail to the Best Farm Trail.

 There were various cannons scattered throughout. I wonder if the cannonballs we have in the basement came out of a cannon like this?

The trail followed along fields of hay and corn.

The Best Farm still had some of the original structures standing, like this stone barn.

Then on Monday, we went to my FIL's house for a cookout. We took hamburgers and chicken to grill, corn on the cob, Greek baked beans, Waldorf salad, and brownies. We were joined by some others in Ward's family and got to meet the new baby. It was fun watching the 2-month-old baby meet her 93-year-old great-grandfather. 

Wally and Theo with their grandfather.

This week has been back to the normal out and about. We've had a couple of appointments and went to line dancing and yoga classes. In addition, we've been getting our fair entries ready for tomorrow evening's entry time. Then on Friday, we're going to WV for the weekend for my family reunion. 

We have done the important preparation for the trip by getting our traditional travel snacks of cheese crackers and M&Ms. I guess we'll get everything else ready tomorrow. 😊 

The time has gotten away from me. It's bedtime, so I'll leave it here.

Until next time...

This and That

 AKA Speed Blogging or Stream of Consciousness 

When I last visited with you, I shared that we were "babysitting" monarch butterfly chrysalises for friends while they were out of town. We watched a total of 7 emerge over the week, and it never got old. As time went on, I learned to "read" the chrysalises and know when a hatching was imminent. When that happened, I checked on them every few minutes. I was a bit obsessed. 😊

We released each on flowers, so they would have ready nectar if they wanted it. They all had their own way with interacting with the world for the first time. Some flew into the sky immediately, and others hung around on the plant for several minutes before they went exploring. 

We have a fair number of swallowtail and skipper butterflies in the yard, but no monarchs. So when I saw a monarch fly by in the yard yesterday, I thought it was one of the babies. So exciting. I've had a smile practically all week watching these velvet-winged beauties.

I'm not sure what else has been going on except that the weather went back into the 90s this week with "feels like" temperatures in the 100s. I am so happy that we have AC. But the humidity is not a friend to my hair. Can you say Brillo pad? That's what my frizz reminds me of. But that's a small price to pay for being outside. Even in the heat, I like to spend a little time out there. But once again, I will say that I am happy to have AC to retreat to.

Not a monarch, but a hummingbird moth.

We've been working on plans for the next few months, including a couple of local trips. I'm a planner and always feel better when I have a plan. The next question is whether we're going to take a trip to celebrate our wedding anniversary at the end of November. 

Now that we're retired, we have more flexibility in our schedule to do these things. My older friends strongly advise me to travel now while we still have reasonable health. However, I've never been a big traveler for various reasons, so it often takes me out of my comfort zone. But that's good for me. 

There goes my timer, so that's it for now.

Until next time...

Butterflies

This caterpillar will become a monarch butterfly.

 This week, I had an unusual request from my friend, Annie. She asked if I could watch some monarch chrysalises while they were out of town for a few days. I said sure, but I would need instructions. Annie has milkweed and active monarch butterfly activity in her yard. She harvested several of the many chrysalises to ensure some of them reached adulthood. She gave us three containers with a total of 7 chrysalises. 

My kids watched butterflies emerge in first grade as part of a science project, but I have never seen more than pictures of the process. So you can only imagine how excited I was when I saw, not one, but three butterflies emerge yesterday. I took pictures, but they were not always easy to get from outside their container. Anyway, below are pictures of this miraculous event we observed yesterday.

The chrysalises start out green.

The casing turns clear before hatching and appears black because of the black on the butterfly's wings and body. The gold band near the top is for oxygen exchange.

The wings are very small when the butterfly first appears.

They spend several hours drying off, and the wings gradually expand.

They eventually start slowly flapping them. That means they are about ready to meet the world.

We released them near flowers, so nectar would be easy to find. BTW, this one is a male monarch as evidenced by the two black dots near the bottom of the inner wings.

And as a tribute to Dolly, here is her song, "Love is Like a Butterfly."

Until next time...